Phoenix, Arizona. –
An Arizona judge on Monday declared a mistrial in the case of a rancher accused of fatally shooting a Mexican man on his property near the U.S.-Mexico border.
George Alan Kelly, 75, was charged with second-degree murder in the Jan. 30, 2023, shooting of Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, 48, who lived just south of the border in Nogales, Mexico.
Kelly recklessly fired nine shots from an AK-47 rifle toward a group of men, including Cuen-Buitimea, about 100 yards (90 meters) away on his cattle ranch, prosecutors said. Kelly has said that he fired warning shots into the air, but that he did not shoot directly at anyone.
Court officials took jurors to Kelly’s ranch, as well as a section of the frontier. Superior Court Judge Thomas Fink denied media requests to accompany him.
Kelly had previously rejected a deal with prosecutors that would have reduced the charge to negligent homicide if he pleaded guilty.
Kelly was also charged with aggravated assault that day against another person in the group of about eight people, including a man from Honduras who lived in Mexico and who proved during the trial that he had gone to the United States that day in search of work.
The other migrants were not injured and all managed to return to Mexico.
Cuen-Buitimea had entered the United States illegally several times and was deported, the last time in 2016, court records show.
The month-long trial coincided with a presidential election year that has sparked widespread interest in border security.